Scientists have revealed that Earth's mantle under Antarctica is at a lower viscosity and moving at such a rapid rate it is changing the shape of the land at a rate that can be recorded by GPS. They have explained for the first time why the upward motion of Earth's crust in the Northern Antarctic Peninsula is currently taking place so quickly.

New research has explained why Antarctica is not warming as much as other continents, and why southern Australia is recording more droughts. Researchers have found rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are strengthening the stormy Southern Ocean winds which deliver rain to southern Australia, but pushing them further south towards Antarctica.

Scientists have merged stem cell and 'organ-on-a-chip' technologies to grow, for the first time, functioning human heart tissue carrying an inherited cardiovascular disease. The research appears to be a big step forward for personalized medicine, as it is working proof that a chunk of tissue containing a patient's specific genetic disorder can be replicated in the laboratory.

Frequent arguments with partners, relatives, or neighbors may boost the risk of death from any cause in middle age, suggests research. Men and those not in work seemed to be the most vulnerable, the findings indicate. Constant arguing seemed to be the most harmful for health. The evidence also suggests that supportive social networks and strong relationships are good for general health and wellbeing.

When tracking a moving object, the two halves of the human brain operate much like runners successfully passing a baton during a relay race, according to a University of Oregon researcher. For a study now online ahead of print in Current Biology, researchers used EEG measurements in healthy young adults to see how information about the movement of an attended object from one brain hemisphere to the other.

Over the weeks following an invasion by a disease-causing microbe, the human immune system fine tunes its defenses, producing proteins called antibodies that are ever more precisely targeted at the invader. New research helps explain how the immune system accomplishes this, suggesting new ways by which the body could be trained to fight disease.